Solving time : a few hours, but it took me longer than it might have done because of a misprint in the pdf, whereby the clue for 23 down appeared as the clue for 22 down (whose clue was omitted altogether). Once I’d realised that there was an error I found a thread on the Crossword Centre message board which included the clue for 22 down (which had appeared in the interactive version of the puzzle, as well as in the paper as published). There are the usual obscure words and one or two very clever clues, but 1 across and 9 down gave me some doubts. The title refers to the fact that the current annual competition for clue-writers finishes with this puzzle, so this is the last opportunity to win a prize in this year’s contest. (Not so: I don’t now know what made me make that assumption; my thanks to DFM).
| Across | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | PLASM | PL as M | A very difficult clue to start with. The definition (old mould) is in the middle of the clue, which doesn’t help. What Azed is saying is that if you take the word “mush” and substitute the initial letter with “pl” you will get the answer. |
| 5 | SCEPTIC | CEP in STIC(k) | |
| 11 | RUFIYAA | * A FAIRY + (yo)U(th) | Dust is an old word for money |
| 14 | TREMOLO | * ELM ROOT | Although this purports to be an & lit type of clue, I can’t see that the clue as a whole (or in part) provides any definition |
| 15 | TARATANTARA | TAR + A TAN + TAR + A | |
| 16 | TRAGOPAN | RAG in TO PAN | Rag can mean orange pith, and pan is here used as a verb |
| 17 | OONS | Two meanings. An oon is a Scottish word for an oven, and oons is an archaic oath | |
| 18 | PEME | Hidden in top emergencies | It’s an acronym for Pulsed Electro Magnetic Energy |
| 20 | ANTS | (H)ANTS | My favourite clue: it refers to the fact that ants form colonies |
| 21 | SEWN | (goo)SE + W(he)N | Another subtle clue; basted can mean stitched |
| 24 | DUBS | Two meanings, neither of them obvious | |
| 27 | PREY | (Os)PREY | |
| 28 | NEUROTIC | *IN COURT + E | |
| 29 | SELF-NEGLECT | ELF + *GLEN in SECT | |
| 32 | KOPIYOK | *PICKY COOK minus the Cs | It’s a Ukrainian coin |
| 33 | WINDIGO | DIG in WINO | It’s a mythical flesh-eating monster |
| 34 | NORTENO | Hidden in the implied phrase “tenortenor” | |
| 35 | TENON | X = TEN + ON | |
| Down | |||
| 1 | PRETTY-SPOKEN | *STET PORKY PEN | |
| 2 | AFFRAP | A + FF + RAP | An old word for strike |
| 3 | SILAGE | *BELGIAN BLUES minus “nubble”; a compound anagram | |
| 4 | MYOTOME | TOY(rev.) in MOME | Mome is an old word for a buffoon or blockhead; a myotome is a surgical instrument for dissecting muscle |
| 6 | CARNAL | R in CANAL | |
| 7 | EVET | VET under (microscop)E | An evet is an old word for a newt or lizard |
| 8 | PUMA | UP(rev.) + MA | |
| 9 | THORON | THOR(eau) + ON | I may have got this explanation wrong, and alternative suggestions are welcome. Thoron is the isotope of radon given off by the decomposition of the element thorium. I speculate that Azed is referring to the writer Thoreau, dispensing with the last three letters of his name (eau = water = an element) and ‘s = ON. |
| 10 | CROSS-SECTION | CROSS + *NOTICES | Barn in this clue refers to a unit of cross-sectional area of a nucleus |
| 12 | PLANT LICE | *I CAN TELL + P | |
| 13 | BARPERSON | The competition clue | |
| 19 | TURGENT | T(ime) + URGENT | It’s an old word meaning turgid |
| 22 | WEEPER | WEE + PER(iod) | This was the clue omitted from the pdf, which caused me some difficulties, as I had (apparently correctly) inserted RENOWN at this point. |
| 23 | RENOWN | ENOW in RN | An example of the use of “lustre” in its more usual sense |
| 25 | BOLIDE | *BOILED | It’s one of the definitions of “fireball” in Chambers |
| 26 | STEP-IN | P in STEIN | Regular solvers will remember this word from four weeks ago, when Azed used similar wordplay (“tankard with quarter pint in”). |
| 30 | LINT | This refers to the answer to 12 down, where an anagram of the answer can be found within the word “place”. I can’t remember Azed using this device before. | |
| 31 | FYLE | Y in ELF(rev.) | |
For 9d I had (Au)THOR + ON with describing=ON
This is Comp No. 7 of the 13 in 2008/9, not No 13. Feb- July still to go!
I had much the same explanation as you for 9dn, except that I speculated that ON was “regarding” rather than “‘s”. Neither seems quite right to me. Thank you for explsaining 1ac; Azed always catches me out with this device.
14 TREMOLO is a self-referencing clue with ‘this’ as the definition. ELM ROOT affected by this (i.e. by tremolo or trembling) could become this.